Whenever a DAP has pale green, yellow or similar, very faint colors, it is very hard to actually see the numbers, even when I use the "magnifying glass" feature in Windows 7. And whenever a darker line crosses over those numbers, it is almost impossible to make out the numbers. An example is in the Mega Dot-a-Pix 2.12x8 ID: 05490100040, which was published on 20th July, 2012. The black line between dot 151 and 152 goes right across the number for dot 153. This isn't too bad, as they are in sequence, but there have been other cases where the dark line was laid down many dots earlier.

Please, use a darker color for the numbers of yellow, etc. dots. There should be no issue with "confusion" of colors, as it is often that one is going from one color to another, so we are mostly looking for numbers, or should be. The numbers could all be black, to be honest, whatever color the dot is. If this can't be done for some reason, make a greater effort to move the numbers out of the "line of fire". Thank you.

I would endorse chaosmanor's comment about the numbers all being black. When solving, the colour of the next number is unknown and the lighter colours can be very hard to read. If the number is greyed out (or even changed to its 'proper' colour) when solved, the effect of the picture won't be spoilt.

We're looking into various options, though we will probably want to keep the numbers in color so the online and printed puzzles look similar. It's possible we'll make the numbers a bit darker, or avoid bright colors altogether.

I would not want to see you eliminate any colors. To be honest, I'd love to see you add colors to the available palette. The more colors there are, the more likely I am to buy a puzzle, of any type.

Lines crossing over numbers is a fairly-common occurrence. I have no idea how the numbers are "attached" to the dots, but it might be that they can be moved a little. Probably lots of extra work, though.

I like your idea of using "normal" (darker, as you put it) colors for the numbers whenever pastels are used. This would not change the "unsolved" appearance very much, and should not be confusing on the rare occasions when, say "sky blue" and "plain old blue" are used in the same puzzle.

Our algorithm automatically moves the numbers so they don't get obscured by the lines. In cases where this isn't possible, a warning pops up in the algorithm so the artist (the person drawing the puzzle) moves the lines so that the number can "find a place" which is un-obscured. It seems that in some cases this warning didn't work. In case you or anyone spots other puzzles with this problem please let us know as it might help us find the cause of this problem.

In the lower right corner, there is a sequence (in black) that starts with dot #70, and ends at dot #88. When the path leaves dot #84 and goes to dot #85, it runs right over both dot #86 as well as the number '86'. OK, not that bad, as we see it while we are tracing the line from 84 to 85, and this is the next dot. Still, there is a ton of white space directly below dot #86, which is where the '86' ought to go.

Thanks for the help. We're running investigations on our side too, trying to figure out if this problem was always there or if it started with one of the more recent versions of the algorithm. If you find really old puzzles with this problem then please let us know.

I can say for a certainty that I've noticed this for more than a year, but it has only recently been pervasive, i.e. more than one or two dots per puzzle. It seems to be much more of an issue recently. But if I go back into the archives, I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.

One more suggestion. Start the numbering with the lightest colors first, at least on the multi-line puzzles. Light green, light blue, tan, yellow, etc should be dot #1, dot, #2 and so on. Save the darker colors - dark blue, green, red, black - for the higher numbers. I already try to do the light colors first on multi-line puzzles. Naturally, this won't help on single line puzzles, but it would eliminate about half of the problem.